Nancy Goldstein on Harriet as the Right's Picture of Dorian Gray

Nancy hits one out of the park again with a column on the highly entertaining unraveling of the Right over the Miers nomination.

They’ve waited so long for one of their true believers to ascend to the Supreme Court, and the Chimperor has let them down with a lesson on how the world really works in his mind — cronyism and loyalty. Its all about him.

For five years, the fops, chickenhawks, and sons of privilege who make up this administration’s elite have been stomping around acting as though their positions at the top of the Bush food chain, where they advocate ultra-conservative ideology, were achieved via intellectual muscle and oh-so-butch ways.

Now the curtain has been pulled aside, and behind it sits Harriet Miers, a living, breathing incarnation of the real qualifications for a place at the frontline of Bush’s mission. What a blow to Bush’s acolytes to learn that â€” so far as the president is concerned â€” any acquiescent, born-again former Texas state former lottery commissioner turned White House Counsel with a history of work on behalf of the oil industry and a boner for the Bush family and against Roe v. Wade will do.

…Beyond that is a larger power struggle, of course. For years, the folks over at Heritage, American Enterprise, and Cato have called this administration’s policy-related shots; now they’re slapping down Bush for having the temerity to think that he can go ahead and make a decision without them and just say “Trust me.” It’s the tail trying to wag the dog, and so far the dog will have none of it.

The nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court is driving the right wing crazy. Well, they were always nuts, but now President George W. Bush is the surprising target of their vituperation, even as he desperately seeks their cooperation. The last time conservatives were this angry, it was over another presidential worshipping White House groupie. But at least Bill Clinton didn’t nominate Monica Lewinsky to the Supreme Court.

Originally, Bush thought by choosing a crony with no paper trail he would inoculate himself against Democrats. What he did not expect was that conservative discontent would spread faster than avian bird flu. It appears that the only vaccine to stop this right wing pandemic of pandemonium is the withdrawal of the Miers nomination.